White House Takes Heat for Serving Fast Food

Social media is abuzz with earth-shattering news: President Donald Trump on Monday night served an assortment of fast food at a White House event honoring the championship Clemson University football team (some of them are shown above).

“The president wanted to host a fun event to celebrate the College Football National Champion Clemson Tigers,” deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley told CNN.

“Because the Democrats refuse to negotiate on border security, much of the residence staff at the White House is furloughed — so the president is personally paying for the event to be catered with some of everyone’s favorite fast foods,” Gidley’s statement continued.

Much of the White House residence staff usually charged with catering such receptions was unavailable due to the federal government’s snow closure[1] on Monday, or they were already on furlough, as CNN and others noted.

Despite the unexpectedly casual nature of the nosh, according to a pool report cited by ESPN[2], some players “whooped” on seeing the buffet-style spread in the East Room.

Some of the burgers, fries, and pizza were displayed on silver platters — a humorous juxtaposition of fun and fancy.

“Great being with the National Champion Clemson Tigers last night at the White House. Because of the shutdown I served them massive amounts of fast food (I paid), over 1,000 hamburgers, etc. Within one hour, it was all gone. Great guys and big eaters!” the president tweeted Tuesday.

Great being with the National Champion Clemson Tigers last night at the White House. Because of the Shutdown I served them massive amounts of Fast Food (I paid), over 1000 hamburgers etc. Within one hour, it was all gone. Great guys and big eaters!

Though his Clemson guests appeared to love it, that was not the case for everyone.

Celebs, pro sports figures, and mainstream media outlets such as Vox[7] criticized the event, with some even suggesting that serving food from Wendy’s, McDonald’s, Burger King, and Domino’s was “racist and classist.”

As crazy as it sounds, some took the president’s comment to reporters guessing that fast food is a favorite of football players to mean that he believed most football players were black and poor — and that they therefore prefer cheap, fatty fast food to fancier fare.

Apparently, an invitation to the White House to meet the president of the United States is not an honor unless the refreshments are of a certain caliber.

In a series of tweets, former NFL player Reggie Bush made his feelings quite clear.

“Just when you think you’ve seen it all, @ClemsonFB you guys deserve better you are world champs and this is the honor you receive from our nation’s leader!? This is disrespectful on so many levels, just a huge slap in the face after that kind of performance! SMH!” he tweeted on Monday.

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, @ClemsonFB[4] you guys deserve better you are world champs and this is the honor you receive from our nations leader!? This is disrespectful on so many levels, just a huge slap in the face after that kind of performance! SMH! pic.twitter.com/rEprhVZf6n[10]